And by lighter and faster, we mean very slightly. New drop-top set for Geneva

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Ferrari has announced a LIGHTER! and MORE POWERFUL! version of its California soft-top, set for a reveal at the upcoming Geneva motor show.

Maranello's finest have installed new exhaust manifolds and remapped the engine management system to extract a further 30bhp from that glorious 4.3-litre V8, with power and torque figures now sitting at 490bhp and 372lb ft.

Ferrari has also used aluminium fabrication and construction techniques - employed by the Scaglietti Centre of Excellence - in building the California's chassis to reduce weight by 30kg to 1705kg.

As such, these minute improvements help the California's 0-62mph time by a minute fraction: the ubiquitous benchmark now takes 3.8 seconds, down from 3.9 seconds.

There's more. Ferrari has also announced a Handling Speciale package that speeds up the electronics controlling the Magnetorheological dampers by 50 per cent, features stiffer springs and a new steering box with a 10 per cent quicker steering ratio.

This minutely improved and minutely faster California also gets a choice of new colours and personalisation schemes too. But you knew that already.

No word on prices, but expect it to be minutely more expensive than the current car's £147k starting price.

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